Argentina

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Argentina
Overview of the education system (EAG 2026)
  • Some 56.7% of children aged 3 are enrolled in early childhood education (OECD average : 81.5%).
  • Government expenditure on educational institutions, before transfers, on primary to tertiary education equalled 4.3% of GDP in 2023 (OECD average : 4%).
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    The following list displays indicators for which your selected country shows the highest and lowest values among countries. The list can be sorted by level of education or by age group. All rankings are calculated including available data from OECD and partner countries. Find out more about the methodology here.

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    Participation in education

    The percentage of three-year-olds in early childhood education in Argentina is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (56.7 %, rank 35/44 , 2024) Download Indicator

    Graduation by field of education

    In Argentina, the proportion of upper secondary vocational graduates in the field of business, aministration and law is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (4.1 %, rank 30/33 , 2024) Download Indicator

    In Argentina, the proportion of upper secondary vocational graduates in the field of health and welfare is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.2 %, rank 28/33 , 2024) Download Indicator

    In Argentina, the proportion of upper secondary vocational graduates in the field of services is one of the lowest among OECD and partner countries with available data. (0.8 %, rank 33/33 , 2024) Download Indicator

    Graduation by field of education and gender

    In Argentina, the proportion of female graduates from upper secondary vocational programmes in the field health and welfare is one of the smallest among OECD and partner countries. (78.3 %, rank 22/27 , 2024) Download Indicator

    Expenditure per student

    Expenditure per student for core educational services on primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education in Argentina is comparatively low. (4799 USD Equivalent, rank 37/39 , 2023) Download Indicator

    Expenditure per student for core educational services on tertiary education in Argentina is comparatively low. (3464 USD Equivalent, rank 37/38 , 2023) Download Indicator

    Expenditure per student for core educational services on primary to tertiary education in Argentina is comparatively low. (4427 USD Equivalent, rank 37/39 , 2023) Download Indicator

    In Argentina, government expenditure on public educational institutions per full-time equivalent student from primary to tertiary education is relatively low among OECD and partner countries. (5361 USD Equivalent, rank 38/42 , 2023) Download Indicator

    In Argentina, government expenditure per full-time equivalent student on public tertiary educationial institutions is relatively smallest. (4475 USD Equivalent, rank 40/41 , 2023) Download Indicator

    Teachers' salaries

    After 15 years of experience, a lower secondary teacher with minimum qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (24712 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, an upper secondary teacher with minimum qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (24712 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, a pre-primary teacher with minimum qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (32735 USD Equivalent, rank 32/35 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, a primary teacher with minimum qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (32397 USD Equivalent, rank 39/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, a lower secondary teacher with typical qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (24713 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, an upper secondary teacher with typical qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (24713 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, a pre-primary teacher with typical qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (32735 USD Equivalent, rank 33/35 , 2025) Download Indicator

    After 15 years of experience, a primary teacher with typical qualification can expect to have one of the lowest salaries among OECD and partner countries with available data. (32397 USD Equivalent, rank 40/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Teachers' salaries progression

    Salaries of primary school teachers with minimum qualifications after 10 years of experience are especially low. (30559 USD Equivalent, rank 38/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of primary school teachers with minimum qualifications at the top of the scale are especially low. (38918 USD Equivalent, rank 41/44 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Starting salaries for lower secondary teachers with minimum qualifications are especially low. (20160 USD Equivalent, rank 47/47 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of lower secondary teachers with minimum qualifications after 10 years of experience are especially low. (23169 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of lower secondary teachers with minimum qualifications at the top of the scale are especially low. (29541 USD Equivalent, rank 44/44 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Starting salaries for upper secondary teachers with minimum qualifications are especially low. (20160 USD Equivalent, rank 47/47 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of upper secondary teachers with minimum qualifications after 10 years of experience are especially low. (23169 USD Equivalent, rank 42/42 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of upper secondary teachers with minimum qualifications at the top of the scale are especially low. (29541 USD Equivalent, rank 44/44 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of pre-primary teachers with minimum qualifications after 10 years of experience are especially low. (30837 USD Equivalent, rank 31/35 , 2025) Download Indicator

    Salaries of pre-primary teachers with minimum qualifications at the top of the scale are especially low. (39038 USD Equivalent, rank 34/37 , 2025) Download Indicator


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    General findings
    
                            
    • Educational attainment remains at an all-time high in 2025 as more people obtain advanced qualifications. Across the OECD, 43% of working-age adults have a tertiary qualification, while the share of adults with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary attainment is slightly lower at 39%.
    • On a similar note, the share of young adults without upper secondary attainment continues to decline across the OECD, standing at 12% in 2025. Therefore, while more young adults obtain a tertiary qualification, the share of individuals whose highest qualification is upper secondary with a vocational orientation is decreasing in almost all OECD countries.
    • Regarding the share of young people being neither in employment nor in education or training, it stood at 14% as of 2025 across OECD countries. However, cross-country comparisons reveal a wide variety of trends, ranging from large falls in Croatia or Ireland to increases in Germany or Latvia.
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    • Most children aged 3 to 5 are enrolled in early childhood education, with an average participation rate of 86% across the OECD in 2024. Participation in early childhood education increases with age and tends to be higher in countries with stronger institutional support for participation.
    • 76.2% of students complete upper secondary programmes within the theoretical programme duration. This rises to 84.9% with two additional years on average across the OECD.
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    • In 2023, OECD countries allocated an average of 9.8% of total government expenditure to education, equivalent to 4.2% of GDP.
    • Total expenditure on education tends to rise with the level of education. In primary education, expenditure per student was USD 13 552 in 2023 on average across the OECD. This amount rises to USD 14 923 in secondary education and to USD 22 402 in tertiary education.
    • Tertiary education continues to expand, placing pressure on public budgets. Private sources represent a larger share of total funding at the tertiary level than at any other level of education. However, as a whole most investment in education comes from public sources. On average, across the OECD, government expenditure on primary to tertiary education corresponded to 4% of GDP in 2023, while private expenditure corresponded to 0.6%. Both of these figures are measured as initial source of funds, which implies that we are tracking the original provider.
    • Research and development represents around one-third of total expenditure across the OECD on tertiary educational institutions, underlining their dual role in both teaching and research. On average across the OECD, in 2023, USD 8 060 were invested annually into research and development for every student enrolled in tertiary education.
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    • Compulsory teaching time averages 770 hours per year for primary students and 710 hours for lower secondary students (general programmes), a difference of about 60 hours annually.
    • The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
    • Teachers’ statutory salaries increase with the level of education taught. On average, across OECD countries and economies, the salaries of teachers with the most prevalent qualifications with 15 years of experience range from USD 60 437 at pre-primary level to USD 68 928 at upper secondary level.
    • Teachers’ actual salaries at primary and general secondary levels of education are 87-95% of the average earnings of tertiary-educated workers across OECD countries. School heads' actual salaries are usually higher than those of tertiary-educated workers.
    Visualisations
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    • On average across OECD countries, 9.1% of teachers in primary and secondary education are non-fully qualified, with shares exceeding 18% in Chile, Denmark, Estonia and Germany.
    • Furthermore, the share of fully qualified teachers leaving the profession in primary and secondary schools stands at 6.4% of the total teaching workforce.
    • The ratio of children to teachers in primary education has slightly fallen across most OECD countries, decreasing from an average of 15 children per teacher in 2015 to 14 in 2024.
    • Regarding job satisfaction among teachers, participating countries show wide differences. Japan, Spain and Czechia reported that teachers tend to be much more satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults. On the other hand, teachers in Hungary, Chile or Latvia tend to be less satisfied with their jobs than other employed adults.
    Visualisations
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    Key
    Diagram of funding flows - Argentina

    Click on the coverpage to see the full OECD iLibrary version
    Key
    Country Reviews for Argentina

    Note: These values should be interpreted with care since they are influenced by countries' specific contexts and trade-offs. In education, there is often no simple most- or least-efficient model. For instance, the share of private expenditure in education must be read against other measures designed to mitigate inequities, such as loans and grants; longer learning time is an opportunity to convey more and better content to students, but may hinder investments in other important areas. If you want further information on the nature of different variables, please take the time to read the analysis and contextual information, available at the website for each publication.
    All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html

    Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. However, OECD averages from Education at a Glance coming from the OECD database are the averages for the indicator reference year appearing in the Education GPS and may differ from averages in the book where averages can include data from multiple reference years, based on countries' data availability.

    To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026 in the Northern Hemisphere.

    *TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Sources Methodologies and Technical Notes of EAG 2025 for more details about the data collections.

    For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.